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Lowenski
In the short story The Case of the Unknown Aircraft, Lowenski was the name of a Polish pilot who had been forced by a Polish intelligence agency to act as one of their operatives. Lowenski had served with his friend Stefan in the R.A.F. during the Second World War as a bomber pilot based in Scotland. After the war, he had married a Scottish woman and settled in Inverness where he kept a shop. Stefan, his friend, had likewise settled in Britain but Polish intelligence soon got in touch with him. Using their hold over his wife, who was still in Poland, they pressured him into agreeing to act as their operative. They sent him to the United States to steal a secret prototype aircraft and fly it to Warsaw with a load of uranium on board. Stefan told Lowenski about this before he left. Stefan succeeded in stealing the aircraft but crashed in the Scottish Cairngorms on the way to Warsaw, dying in the process and leaving the authorities with a mystery of a crash involving an unknown aircraft type with an unknown body and a lump of uranium on board. Biggles was called in to investigate and he arranged for the newspapers to publish the news of the crash, making sure that the location, halfway up the western slope of Ben MacDhui, was mentioned. Biggles hoped this would lead whoever was interested in the uranium to make a move. This the Polish authorities soon did, this time calling Lowenski. Like Stefan, Lowenski had people in Poland, namely his parents, and he was obliged to cooperate. Lowenski made his way to the crash site and was going through the wreckage for the uranium when he was surprised and arrested by Biggles, Ginger and Bertie. Knowing his options were limited, Lowenski agreed to cooperate. He told Biggles his instructions were to deliver the uranium to a big marsh near Nethy where an aircraft would come to collect it. Lowenski then accompanied Biggles to lay an ambush for the aircraft. The trap was sprung successfully but the crew tried to escape. One man died when he ran accidentally into the propeller of the aircraft while the pilot broke his neck when he crashed in trying to take off. Mimicking the instructions of Lowenski's spymasters, the police next planted a telegram to a Post Office box number announcing the safe despatch of the uranium. The man who came to collect the message was followed to what turned out to be a nest of international spies. Needless to say, this location was raided with satisfactory results. To protect Lowenski's parents from repercussions, he was officially sentenced to prison for his part in the affair. Unofficially, he was compensated for the loss of his business and given facilities to emigrate to a British colony. There he was joined by his parents, whose released was later secured by political negotiation. In the comic strip adaptation of the story by Studio Vandersteen, Lowenski is given a Christian name Stanislaw. Here he has a wife Hedwig Lowenski, also Polish, and it is her parents who are threatened. The story ends with the rescue of her parents by Biggles, Algy and Ginger but there is no mention of any of the Lowenskis emigrating to a British colony. Category:People Category:Biggles characters Category:Air Police era characters